Awakenings
by Taimai
Summary: Zell falls into a coma, will he ever fully recover? Can the one to put him into it, be the only one to save him? *Yaoi* *CHAP 2 UP*
1. Introduction

Awakenings – Introduction Chapter  
  
By Delvinress and Taimai  
  
DISCLAIMER:Well we fangirls don't own the cute lil bishounen from FF8, or anything else from it either. They all are property of Squaresoft. The title isn't exactly original, so don't sue us for that either! Ta da! Now read on kiddies!  
  
Taimai: Sorry about the title! It was all we could come up with.  
  
Delv:Why anyone would want to own Rinoa for purposes other than a blow-up doll is beyond me.  
  
WARNING: Shounen ai content, perhaps some hardcore yaoi later ^.^, but not sure yet. Oh yeah, and Rinoa bashing, with angst not related to her. hehehehe  
  
For clarification: "yada yada yada" denotes speech.  
  
'yada yada yada' denotes thought  
  
  
  
Zell walked along the hallways. He finally got his hotdogs and he grinned. He sat  
  
down by the fountain and opened the bag sniffing the wonderful smell. The blond's mouth watered and he reached in; he pulled out one of the bunned heavens and grinned. "Been a month, how's it goin'?" He swallowed it one with one large bite.  
  
"I'm sure it has missed you," Seifer called out. He sauntered over across  
  
the lobby over to the now very mad hotdog eater. "Can I have one? Thaaanks," the  
  
older boy said as he cruelly snatched the unsuspecting bag away from Zell. Seifer  
  
then proceeded to pluck one of the mouth-watering franks from the bag and eat  
  
it,"Mmmm, dis ish goot!"  
  
Zell glared and got up. "Hand it over now, Almasy."  
  
"Hmph. Make me chicken wuss," Seifer replied smugly as he lifted the hotdog and bag above his head.  
  
Zell looked into Seifer's jade eyes. "I'm not up for yer crap today!" Zell punched  
  
Seifer in the ribs in hopes the taller blond would drop the bag. The blow caused the taller blonde to briefly lose his balance. However, instead of the bag dropping, the partially eaten hot dog flew to the ground with a spat. Seifer saw Zell's baby blues flash with something that resembled pure rage. 'Oh damn, I just wanted to tease him a little; he's always cute when he is pissed, but it's going to be bad if he goes into a whole fit about this. It's just a stupid hotdog anyway. It's got cow hooves and stuff in it.'  
  
The shorter blond snarled and spun on his heel. "I hope ya get what's comin' at ya  
  
Seifer..." He stormed off, 'At least I got to eat one.' He thought glumly.  
  
"HALT!" a strong, feminine voice boomed that caused Zell to stop  
  
dead in his tracks. "Ya hit the head of the Disciplinary Committee, ya know? That's  
  
ain't allowed, ya know?" Rajin said as he and Fujin approached the slightly winded  
  
Seifer. "HIT. UNAPPROPRIATE. PUNISHMENT," Fujin added with a slight  
  
emphasis on the last word that made even Seifer shiver.  
  
The shorter blond brushed past Fujin and glared up at Rajin. "Move you're fuckin'  
  
ass, I'm not in the mood for you either."  
  
"Now now, chickie. You don't want to antagonize the whole Disciplinary  
  
Committee now, do you? You're lucky that I'm letting that punch slide with only thirty  
  
hours of latrine clean up," Seifer replied as he pushed to be in front of his comrades.  
  
'That means thirty hours of watching your cute little ass bent over working on the  
  
floors. Haha.'  
  
Zell's face went red. "No way! You stole my hotdogs!" The shorter blond celled out. "Might as well get in a few more hits to make it worth the work! Arrg!" He charged at the taller blond. Seifer smirked as he saw Zell running towards him. He stepped back,  
  
took his stance with Hyperion in hand, and raised the gunblade above his head. He felt  
  
and heard the metal of another weapon stop Hyperion's movement before he could  
  
bring the hilt to crash down and knock out the poor hot dog connoisseur.  
  
Zell skidded to a stop and looked behind Seifer. "Squall, move so I can kick his ass, 'kay?"  
  
Squall ignored Zell and side stepped so he could stare straight into Seifer's eyes. "We were supposed to begin sparring 15 minutes ago."  
  
Zell attempted to slip past the two fighting rivals. He curtly slammed into Rajin's  
  
chest. Rajin looked down at the now-squirming fighter he had grabbed into  
  
a hold a mere second ago. "Ya ain't tryin to get away. Ya got twenty hours of bathroom  
  
scrubbing, ya know?" "IDIOT," Fujin added before giving Rajin a kick to the shin.  
  
"THIRTY" Rajin quickly let go to Zell and bent down to hold his injured leg. "I meant  
  
that, ya know?!"  
  
Zell grumbled under his breath and dashed off to his dorm. He lied on his bead and looked at the ceiling. 'Why does someone have to be so cruel... shit.. don't try ta figure it out man, jus' go to sleep...' The blond closed his eyes and slept.  
  
  
  
Seifer could not believe the scene that lay before his eyes. He was  
  
crouching, near defeated, on the top of his Sorceress's float at the parade in Deling. In  
  
front of him laid the burning, charred body of his ex-girlfriend, Rinoa Heartilly. The girl  
  
had gotten too close to one of the sconces on the float, and her blue duster had caught  
  
on flame. Rinoa, not being the brightest crayon in the box, flailed around with the  
  
duster on until her whole body was aflame. 'A death befitting an annoying ditzy whore  
  
like her,' Seifer thought. He looked up at the people in front of him and saw the  
  
battle-ready forms of Squall, some tall cowboy with a sniper's rifle, and...the  
  
Chicken wuss. Zell was the one who had been the one who inflicted upon him the  
  
most damage during the fight that had just taken place.  
  
Zell hopped back to the edge. "Move outta the way guys! I'm gonna get rid of  
  
this bastard!" The blond focused and sparkles of thunder surrounded him as he focused on his guardian force.  
  
The wounded Knight's eyes widen when he saw Quezecotl's light surround Zell. 'He's not..he's not going to defeat me!' Seifer told himself. Using Hyperion as a crutch, he lifted himself up to a standing position. "AAARRGGHH!" the Knight screamed; he focused all his strength onto one thing: Zell. Seifer charged the summoner before he could understand his dire position on the edge of the float.  
  
Zell's eyes had thunderbolts in them as he focused his last efforts on the thunderbird. He looked up to see Seifer charge. A cocky grin, not unlike Seifer's emerged. "This is what you deserve, Almasy!" He screamed as he felt the bird coming alive within him.  
  
"Deserve? DESERVE?!? I am the Sorceress's KNIGHT!! You are  
  
NOTHING!!!" Seifer bellowed as he grabbed the now-summoned Quezelcotl. At  
  
that point all logic had escaped him as he ignored the searing pain of the lightning  
  
bolts that zapped him from the thunderbird's flesh. Zell was the Villian, he was the  
  
Knight protecting his Sorceress. A Knight is supposed to defeat the Villian in his  
  
romantic dream.  
  
The thunderbird, drained off all HP retreated back into Zell. The smaller blond  
  
grabbed at the powerful hand holding his neck. He looked helplessly to his allies, appendages flailing, trying to hit the assailant. Seifer merely smirked and lifted the smaller blonde until his feet were dangling over the over the edge of the float. "Now who is deserving? Your little thunderbird is very suited to you. A chicken wuss summoning a chicken!"  
  
Zell removed his hands from the strangling grasp and focused his efforts on  
  
pounding that smug face. "Let go of me you sonofabitch!"  
  
"Hmph!" said as he heard the click of rifle behind him. And then another  
  
click,…and another, and another. "You're outta ammo, pretty boy." "I may be, plus  
  
I'ma outta of patience wit your crazy 'Sorceress Knight' bullshit, so I'll make this  
  
quick," Irvine drawled. He switched his grip on the gun so that he held it like a club and  
  
aimed his swing for Seifer's rib cage.  
  
Zell continued his barrage upon the taller blond. "Help faster!" He barely chocked  
  
out.  
  
"Don'cha worry, darlin!" Irvine called out. He pulled his arm back and let  
  
out a powerful swing. It solidly connected with Seifer's back, causing the Knight to  
  
buckle under the blow and collapse to the ground.  
  
Zell was thrown to the edge. He held onto the railing with one gloved hand. He  
  
grimaced at the thought that Seifer was the closest one to him still. "Hey guys.. more help would be nice eh?"  
  
"Hold on," Squall said coolly, never losing his composure. He kneeled down at the edge of the float and stretch a hand out to Zell which was seen in the quickly darkening vision of the prostrate Seifer. "N..no," Seifer whispered and weakly lifted his Hyperion to jab Squall's thigh and break his concentration.  
  
Zell managed to get his other hand up, only to have his original hand shake off from vibrations. He then attempted to get back onto the float. "Haha, no you don't...chickie," Seifer said as he lifted his upper body to balance on his forearms. Seifer gazed down at the sole hand that clung to the edge of the float. "No you don't." He lowered his head to the hand and bit hard into the soft flesh. It spasmed one, twice, and then slipped out of his mouth's grasp before.  
  
Zell flew towards the ground, cursing. The blond head hitting the pavement with  
  
a sickening crack. He lied sprawled out on the road, body almost lifeless, blood seeping into the crack beneath him.  
  
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
  
Authors' Notes:  
  
Taimai doesn't feel like adding anything this time around and has waived all authors' notes rights to Delv for this chapter (hehe)  
  
Delv: Well now, this is my first joint fic and my second fic that I have written in a long time. Taimai was nice enough to give me some mentoring in the art of Rping( Thanks, Taimai!! I hope this is a good intro chapter, or at least a decent one *sweatdrop*. Okee, we should have Chapter 1 up and running shortly if not also today. Let's see how quickly I can edit, hehe. Oh and I take full credit for Rinoa's death, direct flames pertaining to her at me if need be;). Read on and thanks! 


	2. The state of things at Balamb

Awakenings - Chapter One By Delvinress and Taimai  
  
DISCLAIMER: Well we fangirls don't own the cute lil bishounen from FF8, or anything else from it either. They all are property of Squaresoft. The title isn't exactly original, so don't sue us for that either! Ta da! Now read on kiddies!  
  
WARNING: Shounen ai content, perhaps some hardcore yaoi later ^.^, but not sure yet. Oh yeah, and Rinoa bashing, with angst not related to her. Did we mention there was angst? hehehehe  
  
The steel gates of the Balamb Garden had never seemed so intimidating to  
  
Seifer in his entire life. Even when he was a child the gates seemed little more than  
  
ornamentation to me. But now they separated him from the only place he knew he could go. There were people who understood that he was brainwashed, possessed, whatever  
  
you call it. However, many did not share that opinion, and practically every town and city  
  
reminded him of some act of cruelty he committed in the name of the Sorceress.  
  
The Garden held better memories, ones of his friends, Fujin and Rajin, of sparring with  
  
Squall, and of the little Chicken Wuss, Zell. Seifer firmly pushed open the gates and strolled through the courtyard into  
  
the Garden itself. The guards posted had been too scared at the mere sight of him to  
  
do anything other than call for back up. They formed a circle around him as he  
  
stopped in the main lobby. He smirked and called out, "I'm not going to hurt you whelps.  
  
I'm here to see the Commander." 'And hope he isn't going to make me beg for his  
  
forgiveness,' Seifer thought. Before any of the guards could say anything Seifer heard  
  
the chime of the elevator and saw 4 of the original 5 who fought him, headed by the  
  
Commander himself.  
  
Quistis rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance. Before Squall could say  
  
anything, as he rarely did, she spoke. "Mr. Almasy, what do you want here? We are far to  
  
busy cleaning up you're mess to deal with one here." He tone held exactly what she felt,  
  
annoyance.  
  
"I came here to try to begin to right the wrongs I committed," Seifer said  
  
gravely. 'Haha, how many months did I practice saying that? Four? It wasn't as bad  
  
as I thought it would be, but I guess my pride's already shot.'  
  
Quistis shook her head and stepped back. "He's all yours Squall."  
  
Squall impassively took a step back and assumed his battle stance with  
  
Lionheart in hand. "You still think I'm going to fight you? With what? This?" Seifer said.  
  
From beneath this tattered grey coat he pulled the Hyperion, or what was left of it.  
  
The hilt was bent and the blade was now broken off to barely 6 inches.  
  
"What do you want, Seifer?" Squall growled out, not moving from his  
  
position. "A second chance?" Seifer replied, as he put out his hands in a  
  
surrendering gesture. "You gotta be kiddin me," Irvine said. "What about Zell, huh? Why  
  
don't you apologize to him?" "Well, I will, just tell me where the Chicken wu-I mean Zell is, and I'll do it," the former Knight replied. Selphie stared at the former knight. "He's in the infirmary."  
  
"Why's he there? Choked on another hotdog?" Seifer asked jokingly. "Go see for yourself," Squall said quietly as he pointed toward the left corridor. The blonde looked at the group of fighters inquisitively. Upon getting no response, he trotted past the guards and broke into a run to the infirmary. "Oh my...Seifer?! You can't come in here! Hey, wait!" Dr. K. called after Seifer as he burst into the waiting room and continued into the back room.  
  
Zell lied there on the bed, his eyes closed. He looked almost peaceful. His slumber was not voluntary though; the blonde's hair was not gelled and hands were clenched into fists. Seifer then saw the tubes running from various parts of Zell's body and heard the hum of the various machines that cluttered the room. It all hit him with the sudden realization. The parade, Zell's hand holding onto the ledge, the bite, and the fall. Quistis came in she looked at the two. "I wasn't there, but I heard you did this.  
  
How are you going to say you sorry to him, Seifer? You may have possibly ruined his life." With that she spun on her heel and walked out.  
  
"I, I uh," Seifer stammered but Quistis was already out of earshot. "I did...this?" Seifer whispered. He always knew what his crimes were, but none had affected him as personally as this one did. The former Knight gently placed his hand on the sleeping form's forearm and shook. 'He's just joking, this is just a joke, they are just doing this to me to make me feel even worse," told himself. Seifer kept shaking and shaking Zell's arm, trying to convince himself that the younger man was just asleep. A pair of hands tried to break him away from Zell, but they were too weak. He heard some yelling, and then felt a sharp pain at the base of his neck before he passed out.  
  
Seifer's eyes fluttered open to see a grey sectioned ceiling above him. He strained to move his muscular arms but saw that handcuffs fastened them to the bed on which he was laying. 'Huh? Where am I?' he wondered. Quistis walked up to Seifer once again, this time he was restrained to a bed. "He's in a coma, Seifer, he went into it shortly after he fell." He rubbed the bridge of her nose once again. "They don't expect him to recover any time soon, if at all." "C, coma?" Seifer asked incredulously. "You've got to be kidding!" The image of Zell falling flashed back into his mind. 'Damn, that was a long fall. Once I think about it, I think he landed on his head, Hyne shouldn't that have killed him?'  
  
Quistis stared down, displeasingly. "He probably will have major brain damage, if we're luck he might be able to retain some of the mental processes he had before."  
  
Seifer let his body go slack and relaxed on to the bed. "Oh Hyne," he breathed out. "I didn't know what I was doing, I was under her control, how was I supposed to know what would happen?! I-" Seifer cut himself off. 'No use for excuses. You did what you did because a part of you wanted to get back at him for something. She just let that part of you bubble to the surface. This is all your fault, again. You came for forgiveness, and all you get is more grief! Hahaha, this is priceless!' Seifer thought sarcastically. "I didn't mean to hurt him before. I just thought you guys were trying to mess with my head about Zell. You wouldn't happen to be able to uncuff me now, would you?"  
  
Quistis shook her head. "Someone will come for you in the morning." She left.  
  
Seifer listened as the door closed and the lights in his room buzzed off. 'She's gotta be kidding me if she thinks I'm going to stay here all night.' It took the very broad-handed youth over an hour to twist his hands out of the handcuffs. A trail of blood that dripped from his gashed hands followed him from his room to the door of Zell's. He wordlessly opened the door and knelt by Zell's side.  
  
Seifer stroked the younger blonde's cheek one of his bloodied hands. Soon some blood soaked into the pillow and formed small stain behind Zell's head. Suddenly the sickening image of Zell laying on the ground beneath the float with a much larger pool of blood haloing his head flashed into Seifer's mind and he pulled his hand away as if he were burned. "I'm sorry, Zell. I really didn't mean it, I swear. You believe me, right?" Seifer whispered into Zell's ear as he lightly nuzzled his cheek.  
  
The humming continued with the slow rhythmic thump of respirator in the background as well. Those were the only sounds in the room. "Wake up, chicken wuss, please? You have to beat me up, remember? You always hated that nickname, come on, yell at me" He had never felt so pissed in his entire life. The feeling was only enhanced by the fact that he was the cause of all this mess. This had hit way too close to home for Seifer to ignore or blame on the Sorceress. Now he just wanted one thing. "Please wake up, Zell."  
  
There was a change in the rhythm of the beeping. Some instruments flashed, and other changed colours. There was a gasp as Zell took a breath. His eyes fluttered open and he looked to the person who was near him.  
  
Seifer's gaze shot up to the face before him. "You're awake, Chicken wuss," he said unbelievingly, adding sarcasm to the last two words in order to restore his shrunken pride.  
  
Zell gave a grin and looked at him. His eyes seemed vacant and he didn't speak. He just gave a grin, a little bit of spittle falling down his mouth.  
  
"Oh man, and drooling, too? Probably thinking about hotdogs. You thinking about hot dogs, chickie," Seifer chuckled as he used Zell's blanket to wipe off the saliva off his chin.  
  
Zell looked confused for a moment, and, in lack of comprehension, he nodded grin still plastered on his face.  
  
"Well I'll make sure you get some, okay?" Seifer said getting up. "Just hold on a sec!" he called back as he dashed out the door and ran to call Dr. K on the office phone. "Hey, Dr. K! It's me, Seifer...What do you mean, 'how did you get out?' It doesn't matter! Zell's wake! Yeah! No, I'm not joking, and I didn't hurt him! Come here and see for yourself. Hurry!" Seifer shouted excitedly into the phone before slamming it down. He rushed back to the now-conscious fighter and began to mirror his grin. "Welcome back the land of the living, chickie."  
  
Zell slowly started closing his eyes again. He had no idea what was going on, but he was confused again. His eyes showed signs of puzzlement and shock.  
  
Soon Zell's small room was cramped with Seifer, Squall, Quistis, Dr. K., Irvine, Cid, Edea, and Selphie; all except Seifer were in various states of undress that did nothing but enhance the look of utter surprise on their faces. Seifer stood next to Zell's bed, beaming. "Well, it seems that it took a real man to shake this little kid out of his nap. Didn't it?" Seifer boasted as his mouth curved into his old, triumphant smirk.  
  
Zell looked at all the people; he was quite scared now. So many people around him excited, he didn't know what was going on, and he... wet himself. Irvine, who was on the other side of the newly-awakened Zell, sniffed at the air. "Hey, does anyone smell that? It smells kinda like piss or somethin'." "Well," Dr. K. said as she pushed her way past Irvine, "it seems to be coming from this little patient." The doctor took out her light pen and bent the small blonde's hair back to check to see if his pupils were dilated.  
  
Zell's eyes squinted and he attempted to bat away the light from his eyes.  
  
"Hmm." "Hmm what?" Squall asked irritatedly. Dr. K. ignored him and took a tongue compress. She bent over and firmly took Zell's chin in her hand. "Open your mouth, Zell." Zell tilted his head, he was unsure of what this woman wanted. The doctor moved her thumb to Zell's lips and managed to nudge open his jaw. She inserted the tongue compress into his mouth as her thumb pressed against his upper row of teeth to support his jaw. After peering into his mouth for a moment she seems satisfied and allowed Zell's mouth the clamp shut. She took the stethoscope from around her neck, attached it to her ears, and slid the other end under Zell's hospital gown collar.  
  
Zell flinched at the cold of the metal touching his skin. He whimpered slightly. "It's okay, Zell. I know it is uncomfortable, but please hold still," Dr. K. said soothingly. She listened to the small blonde's steady heartbeat for a moment. She then stood up and turned to the group, "Well, it is a miracle that he woke up at all, let alone conscious enough to respond to his surroundings. Now I have one more test to conduct." She spun back around and looked at Zell with a calm face. "What is your name?" Zell looked at the doctor and struggled to remember. When he couldn't remember he started crying softly, tears streaming down his tattooed face.  
  
"What's wrong with him? Are his vocal cords damaged?" asked Cid. "No, it is not that. I believe that he suffered brain damage, but the extent of it is unknown until we conduct further tests." "Brain damage?" Squall said raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, you dumbass, that's what she said!" Seifer seethingly replied.  
  
Quistis looked at the doctor. "What's your estimate? Your prognosis, give us anything you have."  
  
"Perhaps it is merely amnesia, but the severity of the fall points to more serious injuries. Coma patients do not lapse out of a coma that long with only superficial wounds. I think he may have to relearn basic things, such as talking and perhaps walking, again, based on the behavior he has exhibited thus far," Dr. K. responded sadly.  
  
Quistis looked sadly at Zell, she noticed the feeling in most of their faces, except for that damn Seifer. His smug grin was still in place. Her head snapped up. "Don't you care? You did this after all."  
  
"Hey, I got him up. You should be thanking me!" Seifer barked at her. "Fine, I'm sorry, happy?" "Oh you sound reeeal sorry, asshole," Irvine said with his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm sure your lil heart's aboutta break, ain't it?"  
  
Zell whimpered again he didn't understand why people were yelling. He wanted to stop them, so he started flailing.  
  
"Stop it, now," the doctor commanded, "All of you, get out NOW. You are upsetting Zell."  
  
"Oh sorry, ma'am," Irvine said in quite voice as he quickly looked down with great interest at his cowboy boots. Zell stopped and looked at each and every face in the room. Why couldn't he remember... it was so frustrating. Seifer's face softened a little into a slight smile that was only detectable by the smaller form starting at him confusingly.  
  
Selphie looked down at the blond, tears in her eyes. "Why...." She felt her knees buckle and excused herself wailing down the hallway. Quistis sighed and followed the wailing girl. "Selphie! Wait!" Cid and Irvine follow Quistis out of the room.  
  
"Now Squall, just in case the worse case scenario is proven true, there are a few instructions I want to give you to aid in Zell's recovery. First he is going to need physical therapy for his legs and occupational therapy to steady his hand movements. I think speech therapy will also be warranted. He'll need to be watched and reminded of his life like it used to be so he can become reacclimated. Understand?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor," Squall replied and gave a Seifer an unreadable glance before he followed the doctor out of the room. The blond on the bed watched as the two left. He looked up to the sole occupant in the room, other than himself.  
  
"Hmmm, you need to be reacclimated, huh? Well, let's start getting things they were before," Seifer said smugly as he began to circle Zell's bed as if he were stalking prey. "Hey Chicken wuss, you think your hot shit just waking up and making everyone happy. I'm sure your hotdogs missed you!" Seifer sneered as he swooped down until he was face to face with Zell.  
  
Zell's lip quivered and his eyes watered. Why was he now getting mad at him again? Once again he didn't understand. Zell clenched his eye shut as his quivered and soiled himself again.  
  
Seifer hung his head dejectedly as he saw he hadn't provoked Zell into the familiar anger, but into another bedwetting session. 'At least he's wearing one of those adult diapers, or the Doctor would kill me,' Seifer thought.  
  
Zell looked at Seifer he didn't want to make the other person sad, so he felt sad for making the other person sad.  
  
"It's ok, chickie," Seifer said ruffling the other blonde's head, "we've just got a long road ahead of us, that's all. But I never back down from a challenge, and I'm not starting now."  
  
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^  
  
AUTHORS' NOTES:  
  
Delv: Okee dokee. Can you believed that took all day for us to write? Well, there were some breaks, but we worked our butts off! Hopefully this chapter won't have all the weird spaces the last one did. We hope that this is providing to be entertaining. I know it's entertaining me! Hehe, bad joke. Anyway, please review if you can (I know ff.net is being a lil pms-y at the moment) and check out my first fic, 'Presence of Shame'! *shameless self- promotion* 


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